Rain watered the earth within minutes of a tree-planting ceremony in memory of a classmate and friend Monday at the Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Members of the Bellefontaine High School Class of 1974 gathered around the recently planted oak, placed near the location of a century-old burr oak that fell last October, just weeks before the death of Brian Reese Gillespie. Gillespie succumbed to brain cancer on Oct. 31, 2021, after fighting it far longer than anyone expected.
Before his illness, Gillespie worked as a sales representative for Batesville Casket Company, a job he started in 1980. He also spent seven years as an advance planning coordinator with Eichholtz Daring & Sanford Funeral Homes in Bellefontaine.
When classmate Krista Harmon asked the attendees what one word they would use to describe Gillespie, they all responded in unison: Ornery. But, they added, he was also funny, smart and a prankster who got them into trouble.
“We have a long history,” Harmon said during the ceremony. “We’ve been friends since grade school, on to high school and into old age.”
“How old might that be?” a friend asked.
Everyone laughed as Harmon responded, “Let’s not go there.”
The exchange reflected the deep bond between the former classmates, who often took Gillespie to his treatments. Many of them even go on vacations together.
“We’re there for each other,” one friend said.
Despite the rain, they concluded their memorial by sharing a toast in Gillespie’s memory.